Inspiration

How to Get Others On-Board Your Idea

Even if you have the most brilliant idea in the world, it may still be difficult to get others on-board your idea. Today, we examine how to get others excited in order to make your idea a reality.

How to Get Others On-Board Your Idea

In almost any business venture, you will need the cooperation of others. Often, these are investors and advocates required to take your idea to the market, and to allow it to reach fruition. But it’s hard enough to even get people to listen to your idea, let alone to understand it and want to make it a reality. However, if you want to start a business, shoot a film, or undertake any collaborative effort, these are the three steps you need to achieve.

The 2 Questions You Must First Ask Yourself

If you want to get others on-board your idea, it is essential you yourself are first fully on-board. Before starting any new venture, we should ask ourselves: Why are we doing this? And, what do we hope to accomplish? If after answering each of these questions we still feel compelled to pursue the venture whole-heartedly we may be in a good position to proceed.

Make Your Pitch Simple

If after answering the two questions above you still feel excited enough to pursue the venture, you will then need to make your idea as simple and easy to understand as possible. This means distilling your idea into a single, simple sentence so anyone who hears it will understand. If our idea is as specific and simple to understand as possible it will have a much better chance of gaining support.

Perfect Your Pitch

At this point you will need to test your pitch. You should test it on people who’s opinion you respect and ask for their honest feedback. If you are constantly running into the same questions from multiple people, then you know this part of the pitch is unclear. Then, it’s simply a matter of adjusting your pitch accordingly, and testing it out again until everyone you tell understands and reacts enthusiastically to your idea.

Be Prepared With Supporting Materials

Ultimately what you want to have is a pitch where anyone who hears it can see the whole project laid-out before them. They can imagine themselves involved and can imagine themselves making money from the venture. At this point, you must be prepared for interest. Meaning, if someone likes your idea your must have supporting materials such as a deck ready to send immediately. Showing you’re prepared is a key step to getting others on-board your idea.

Close the Deal

If your pitch is starting to see some success, it’s time to put the pedal-to-the-metal. If someone’s interested, ask if you can send them your deck and then follow-up. And stay on them. Keep them interested and excited by constantly showing them how the idea is coming to life. Selling is often not a singular event, but rather a campaign.

Test the Market

If you’ve secured some funding, it may be time to test the market. This is often when your proof-of-concept will sink or swims. When Phil Knight was first starting Nike, he had an idea that Japanese running shoes might sell in a U.S. market. But he’d never know until he tested the market. So, he bought a small number of shoes and sold them out of the trunk of his car at track meets around the Pacific northwest. When he saw the shoes selling well he knew he was onto something.

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If like Phil Knight you realize you have a product people actually want, you should at this point have the sales numbers to back it up. These numbers are a huge incentive to potential investors and make raising more capital that much easier. If you’ve found yourself at this point you will find it much easier to get others on-board your idea. Congrats you’re well on your way to making it!